Culled from The Daily Observer Published Tuesday, 16 May, 2000 TAF ORDERED TO STOP WORK AT SINCHU YAHI The newly appointed director of Lands and Survey, RAF Thomas, has written to the proprietor of Taf Holding Company, Mustapha Njie, instructing him to immediately stop works on the 'Sinchu Yahi' project site. The decision came amidst speculations that Mr Njie had bribed the then secretary of state, Lamin Bajo, and some other local government authorities to enable him (Mr Njie) to acquire the said reserved land. The buffer, which has been described as "prime land", reserved for a hospital and recreational centre, situated between the Independence Stadium and the Kanifing Housing Estate, was allocated to Taf Holding Company, who, bankrolled by Shelter Afrique, demarcated the site into plots of land, which are being developed and sold to people under the scheme "Operation House the Nation". Soon after the allocation in March, the area was named "Sinchu Yahi". 'Yahi' (bones in Wollof) is the childhood nickname of Mr Njie, an apparent reference to his skinny nature. The 'Sinchu Yahi' project has since been marred by controversy, with some people questioning the modality for the allocation of the land, while others queried the price of the plots. The price for an ordinary three bedroom self-contained house is D350,000 and above while a de luxe three bedroom self-contained costs D700,000 upwards. Sources have alleged that the sacked secretary of state for Local Government and Lands, Lamin Bajo, and some officials at the department, were bribed for a reported sum of three million dalasis. According to sources, a certain community in Bakau had protested the allocation of the land, which they reportedly claimed was taken from them by the former government and declared a state reserved land. Sources claimed that after the Bakau people raised the clamour, Mr Njie allegedly compensated them with D350,000 through the alkalo of Bakau. When contacted, Mustapha Njie confirmed receiving a letter on Friday from the director of Lands and Survey, instructing him to stop work on the Sinchu Yahi project, and that work has since stopped. He said, "I am now listening to them. But I hope everything would be resolved through dialogue." Asked if he had got all the necessary documents for the land allocation before embarking on the project, he said he was allocated the land on March 15, 2000, through a letter from the director of Lands and Survey at the time. On whether it was true that he had compensated a certain community in Bakau for the said land, Mr Njie replied, "You know, in every such land allocation, there are agreements. We have fulfiled all the requirements of the agreement but I don't want to give details." When asked whether it was true that he had bribed the sacked Local Government and Lands secretary and other officials to influence the allocation of the land, Mr Njie said, "I would reserve my comments on that." For his part, the alkalo of Bakau, Luntang Jaiteh, has categorically denied receiving any money from Taf for a community in Bakau as compensation for the land. "No butut was paid to me. I am not even aware that was allocated to Taf. I just saw the signboards," he told me over the phone last evening. Mr Jaiteh explained that "all land within the Greater Banjul Area was, since the PPP days, declared state-owned land. So, all the land in this area is administered by the state. There is nothing like customary land in the Kombo St Mary's area." When contacted, the director of Lands and Survey , RAF Thomas, who was recently redeployed to the post after his contract as director of Physical Planning and Housing expired, declined to comment. "I will not confirm or deny anything. And you know under the General Orders, civil servants are not supposed to talk to the press," he said. ********** e-mail: [log in to unmask] URL: http://home3.inet.tele.dk/mcamara ****************** ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------